Kings and Kingship

Question 1

What did attacks by Vikings in the 9th century encourage rulers to do?

Answer 1

Attacks by pagan Vikings in the ninth century encouraged rulers like Alfred to present themselves as patrons of the Church and protectors of Christianity

Question 2

What idea was pushed by both Ethelbald and Offa following increasing pressure on Kings?

Answer 2

In 8th century Mercia, Kings ruled that those owning hereditary lands must perform three customs: military service, building of bridges and the construction of fortresses - this aided the Mercians in dealing with the Welsh and later the Vikings
Offa imposed the common burdens on Kent when he conquered the kingdom

Question 3

What concepts advanced by the Carolingians were accepted into Anglo-Saxon society?

Answer 3

The coronation ritual and the law codes of Alfred heavily reflected Carolingian influence

Question 4

Why was Christianity attractive to Kings?

Answer 4

Because they could command respect as God’s representative on earth
It also carried the prestige of the Roman Empire and bought classical learning and literacy to the Anglo-Saxons

Question 5

What was the political situation in the 7th century?

Answer 5

An existing Heptarchy of 7 kingdoms and 12 provinces (at least) whose rulers are described as kings (reges) in contemporary sources

Question 6

What germanic traditions do AS kings draw on early in the period?

Answer 6

• Custodianship of the law
• Belief in descent from the gods
• Descent from Woden

Question 7

What does N. P. Brooks argue were Alfred’s most revolutionary policies?

Answer 7

His educational policy/programme and his burghal policy - “policies that were without parallel in Europe and are not likely to have been anticipated in the other English kingdoms”

Question 8

How had the political landscape changed by the 9th century?

Answer 8

Only 4 kingdoms remained - 
East Anglia
Northumbria 
Mercia
Wessex

Question 9

Explain Alfred’s Burghal Policy

How did he ensure they remained protected?

Answer 9

Documented by the Burghal Hidage, listing over 30 fortified towns or forts known as burhs installed by Alfred the Great to protect Wessex from Viking attack
Brooks notes that some were post-Roman or pre-Alfredian but Alfred incorporated them nonetheless
Later, Alfred installed garrisons in the West Saxon boroughs so that the Danish could not make use of the burhs
These garrisons were to be manned at all times - the Burghal Hidage denotes that over 27000 men were needed to carry out this duty

Question 10

What aspects of Charlemagne’s rule did Alfred and Offa adopt?

Answer 10

The idea that the King was God’s representative on earth and therefore owed unwavering loyalty and obedience from his subjects
Political unity therefore paved by spiritual unity - as demonstrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Southern England

Question 11

Why did Alfred seek to improve education according to Whitelock and Bullough?
How did this affect the clergy?

Answer 11

To provide a large number of intellectual books available at Alfred’s court which would be used to teach young nobles and freemen to read English well.
For the first time, this provided translations available to the many and this in turn offered a motive to learn. Reading knowledge of English provided a foundation on which a clergy proficient in Latin could be built

Question 12

How were conversion and overlordship connected?

Answer 12

Overlords increased their influence by converting subkings to Christianity and becoming their godfather
Founding monasteries in newly-conquered territories a part of the consolidation process - subject kingdoms identified themselves with these and by extension the overlord’s royal house

Question 13

What was the relationship between the Church and the King?
What happened when things went wrong?
Double monasteries?

Answer 13

Kings were the head of their kingdoms and so expected to be head of the churches within them - the also appointed the Bishops and made many key decisions - they could be advised but there was a limit - Bishop Wilfrid meddled in the marriage of Egfrith of Northumbria and accepted patronage from enemy kings and so was exiled
Double monasteries - royal house’s own proprietary monasteries, often run by royal females under the supervision of the king

Question 14

How could the Church influence kingship?

Examples

Answer 14

They were concerned with marriage practices of consanguinity
In the 7th century, the Church forbade the marriage of King Eadbald of Kent with his stepmother
In the 8th century, King Ethelbald of Mercia rebuked for not having a legitimate wife but instead many concubines
- Marriage laws decided on the legitimacy of children and only the legitimate could rule - churchmen therefore held political influence as to what unions should be maintained or which dissolved
They could interfere with traditional strategies of heirship

Question 15

Explain the role of recognizing saints

Answer 15

Recognizing royals as saints meant more royal donations and allowed the population to rally round their leader whilst also practicing religious devotion
For royals, cults of saints and saintly relatives provided political value

Question 16

How were monasteries useful for Kings?

Answer 16

Kings could retire to monasteries to “relax” and work-off some sins
As they resigned, they could also nominate and heir as Ethelred of Mercia did
Some encouraged, even forced, into monastic retirement as very convenient for family left behind

Question 17

Did the Church hold any political power?

Answer 17

Wealth and resources lent the church potential political power and so in the 8th century, they were allied with different factions and attacked (churchmen and property) as part of internal feuding
eg., in 750, the Bishop of Lindisfarne was imprisoned by Kind Eadbert to capture a rival aetheling

Question 18

Where does Bede say Ethelbald exercised power?

Answer 18

Bede says he exercised authority everywhere south of the Humber

Question 19

Why did intermarriage strengthen unities between kingdoms? Give an example

Answer 19

Queens took households and followers with
them when they married and this must have strengthened the degree of
connection between kingdoms
It also meant that heirs could potentially inherit both kingdoms - for example, Ethelfrith of Bernicia married a Deiran Queen and their son, Oswald, was able to claim both kingdoms by inheritance

Question 20

What does Simon Keynes suggest was a major source of instability in kingship?

Answer 20

A major source of instability in Anglo-Saxon governments was the absence of
a secure system of royal inheritance.

Question 21

What is some evidence of organized royal power? (according to Keynes)

Answer 21

This evidence is that of the great dykes. The greatest is Offa’s Dyke, over one hundred miles long, very probably belonging to the late eighth century. Such lesser, but very considerable earthworks as the East Wansdyke, the Devil’s Dyke and the Fleam Dyke, probably belong to much the same period or a somewhat earlier one. Such works are great demonstrations of ordered power
and of a public service providing for defence. Another public service, bridgebuilding, appears, like military service, as compulsory in eighth-century
charters.

Question 22

How does Simon Keynes define “bookland”?

Answer 22

tenure by written grant, which had been introduced

by the Church

Question 23

What were the benefits of bookland?

Answer 23

The privileges it bestowed must have involved departure from existing rules.
It appears that kings granted land to followers on precarious tenure, for life only, or not for so long.
A grant by charter would have substituted permanence for precariousness. Also, if, as is likely, some noble land was held by family tenure such that, on the death of a holder, lands held by him were redistributed according to known rules, then bookland would have been preferable by granting freedom of disposition.
In addition, such tenure could have involved freedom from major services to a king, but it is disputed how far this was so.

Question 24

Where does Bede voice his complaints about tenure?

Answer 24

One of these plays a large part in his Letter to
Bishop Egbert. Bede there complains about the prevalence of ‘false monasteries’. Noblemen were setting up such institutions, he complains, in order to
gain the benefit of a certain kind of land tenure such as to give them valued exceptions

Question 25

What was the political situation in 800?

Answer 25

By 800, only 5 kingdoms definitely known to exist - larger kingdoms grew to encompass smaller principalities

Question 26

What characterized overlordship?

Answer 26

The collection of tributes eg., Oswiu’s overlordship of the Picts and Scots is expressed in terms of maling them tributary

Question 27

What did subkings have to do?

Answer 27

Promise loyalty, hand over treasure with no expectation of anything in return, possibly provide military service too - all of which demonstrates their inferiority

Question 28

Where does Barbara Yorke suggest power came from?

Answer 28

Power came from the use of military power to extract tributes

Question 29

Where did Northumbrian kings attack from?

Answer 29

Sea and Land - eg., Edwin forced the submission of the Isle of Man

Question 30

How long did overlordship last?

Answer 30

Overlordship often lasted for a relatiely short period and the situation never remained static as other kingdoms were always interfering and plotting/making alliances

Question 31

Why were overlords always on guard?

Answer 31

Always on guard and ready with an effective army as other kingdoms were always plotting challenges - Oswiu was the only one of the great Northumbrian kings not to die defending his position

Question 32

Did “bretwaldship” offer long-term gains according to Barbara Yorke? Why?
Where did Northubrian power stem from?

Answer 32

No - as there was no hereditary succession and no permanent expansion of territory
The three successive Northumbrian overlords carved their own path and Northumbrian power stemmed from its permanent absorption of the British kingdoms of Rheged and Gododdin

Question 33

What were the different types of overlordship according to Yorke?

Answer 33

Difference between overlordship whose purpose was collection of tributes (bretwaldship) and the overlordship of one kingdom over another which was based on personal ties and obligations with the superior kingdom hoping for the ultimate annexation of the subordinate kingdom - powerful kings tended to enact both forms

Question 34

How does Oswiu’s overlordship support Yorke’s arguments?

Answer 34

He only gained control of the Southern kingdoms after defeating Penda in 655 and must have lost control shortly after in 658 when Wulfhere regained control in Mercia. He also plotted with other kingdoms before his defeat of Penda

Question 35

Explain Ethelbert of Kent’s overlordship

Answer 35

Bede says that AEthelbert exercised an imperium over the other kingdoms of southern England, but when it came to enforcing Christianity, AEthelbert could only ensure the conversion of the East Saxons. The ruler of the East Saxons, Sabert, was AEthelbert’s nephew and possibly had other obligations towards AEthelbert as well. 20 AEthelbert had limited powers over many kingdoms, but there was only one kingdom into which he could walk and set up a bishopric.

Question 36

Where did Alfred divide society into three and what did he say?

Answer 36

In his translation of Boethius’ “Consolation of Philosophy” he said that every king should have “Praying men, fighting men, and working men” - “these men are their means of support”
This is the first written appearance of the division of society into “three orders”

Question 37

How much land did Kings give to the church? Give an example

Why did they do this?

Answer 37

the introduction of bookland meant that the Church needed and expected permanent alienations and kings were very generous in their gifts: Caedwalla granted Wilfrid a quarter of the Isle of Wight - only a fraction of what Wilfrid accumulated in his lifetime
They did this as they believed gifts helped them secure support from God they were also used to say thanks for success in battle

Question 38

What did bookland mean for kings?

Answer 38

It caused a crisis in the provision of land

Question 39

Shift from loaning land on a temporary basis to the alienation of land encouraged a shift away from what?

Answer 39

Shift from loaning land on a temporary basis to the alienation of land encouraged a shit away from the idea that service to the king must be continually rewarded to one where obligations of royal service were inherited with land
Shift in balance as the relations between nobles and kings previously underpinned by service at the royal court and the giving of gifts

Question 40

What was the relationship of royal and noble families in the 7th century?

Answer 40

7th century - tighter-knit kinship whereby rulers promoted their immediate family

Question 41

How did relationships between noble and royal families change in the 8th century?

Answer 41

Now, a number of separate royal lineages appear in sources to compete with one another to place a candidate and these might adopt distinctive patterns of names or terms - subgroups formed naturally as the number of royal descendants increased

Question 42

What were the contrasting patterns of succession according to Yorke?
Where did Kings remain closely related?

Answer 42

Contrasting patterns of succession - from Father to Son in a settled period - where kings are closely related to one another- to an unsettled period where it could pass to claimants such as distant cousins
Kings in Kent and East Anglia remained closely related

Question 43

How to Kings attempt to circumvent the lack of a recognized position as heir to the throne?
Who was most likely to succeed?

Answer 43

• use of subkingships could give heirs the opportunity to gain support and dispense patronage
• Offa tried to circumvent political opposition by crowning his son king during his lifetime
• Those likely to guarantee lineage had to be successful in other spheres, particularly in territorial expansion

Question 44

What were some of the hazards to ensuring lineage?

Give an example

Answer 44

• Dwindling economic and military success
• Dangers of infertility and high infant mortality
• Christianity introduced new laws on marriage and legitimacy further hindering success by preventing “illegitimate” children from ascending the throne
  Oswiu murdered Osric’s son Owine and two infant sons and an infant grandson of Edwin died from natural causes